Rhetoric over rhetoric too hot after Arizona attack

Jan. 11, 2011

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Vera Rapcsak, foreground, and others hold up signs outside the office of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. in Tucson, Ariz. on Saturday, Jan. 8, 2011 after Giffords and others were shot outside a Safeway grocery store as she was meeting constituents. CHRIS MORRISON, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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In this Jan. 5, 2011 file photo, House Speaker John Boehner reenacts the swearing in of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., on Capitol Hill in Washington. Gifford was shot in the head at a political event in Tucson on Saturday. SUSAN WALSH, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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Well-wishers gather outside the offices of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., during a candlelight vigil for Giffords in Tucson, Ariz., on Saturday, Jan. 8, 2011. CHRIS CARLSON, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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In this undated photo provided by the Green family and distributed by the Arizona Republic newspaper, Christina Green, 9, poses for a photo. Green was one of those killed in an attack on U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC, GREEN FAMILY

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In this undated photo provided by the Schneck family, Phyllis Schneck poses in Tucson, Ariz. Schneck, 79, was killed during a rally for U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., Saturday in Tucson. SCHNECK FAMILY

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In this undated handout photo, Dorothy Morris, 76, is shown. Morris was killed Saturday, Jan. 8, 2011 when a gunman opened fire at a political event with U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Ariz. HANDOUT VIA THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC

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This photo provided by the Mountain Avenue Church of Christ via the Arizona Republic shows Dorwin Stoddard. Stoddard was killed during a rally for U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., on Jan. 8, 2011 in Tucson, Ariz. MOUNTAIN AVENUE CHURCH OF CHRIST VIA ARIZONA REPUBLIC

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In this January 2009 photo provided by the office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, aide Gabe Zimmerman is seen in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington. Zimmerman was killed Saturday, Jan. 8, 2011 when a gunman opened fire at a political event with Rep. Giffords in Tucson, Ariz. OFFICE OF REP. GABRIELLE GIFFORDS

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This undated photo provided by the Federal 9th Circuit Court shows Judge John Roll. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was shot in the head Saturday, Jan. 8, 2011 by a gunman who opened fire outside a grocery store during a meeting with voters, killing John Roll, a federal judge. FEDERAL 9TH CIRCUIT COURT

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Flowers and candles are seen placed outside the office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords after Giffords was shot in the head by a gunman who opened fire outside a grocery store, Saturday, Jan. 8, 2011, in Tucson, Ariz. CHRIS MORRISON, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The media stakes out the home of Jared Loughner in Tucson, Ariz., Monday, Jan. 10, 2011. Loughner is accused of trying to assassinate Rep. Gabrielle Giffords at an event in Tucson on Saturday. Six people were killed and 14 injured. ROSS D. FRANKLIN, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Students look over a make-shift memorial at Mesa Verde Elementary School in Tucson, Ariz., on Monday. Christina Green, 9, a student at Mesa Verde Elementary School was shot and killed during a speech given by U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., at a local supermarket Saturday. CHRIS CARLSON, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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In this handout provided by the Pima County Sheriff's Forensic Unit, Jared Lee Loghner, 22, poses for a photo. Loughner has been arrested for the shooting spree at a political event outside a Safeway grocery store in Tucson, allegedly targeting U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.). More than a dozen people were injured and six people were killed in the shooting. PIMA COUNTY SHERIFF'S FORENSIC UNIT

Vera Rapcsak, foreground, and others hold up signs outside the office of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. in Tucson, Ariz. on Saturday, Jan. 8, 2011 after Giffords and others were shot outside a Safeway grocery store as she was meeting constituents.CHRIS MORRISON, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

For the past 28 years, my parents shopped at the Safeway where the Arizona shooting rampage occurred.

The community served by the college attended by suspect Jared Loughner was my parents' community.

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was their representative. They heard her and met her several times.

In short, our family is deeply connected to the people, the neighborhood, the city of Tucson and the state of Arizona.

And that is why the rhetoric about the rhetoric is so troubling.

It may even be dangerous.

But not for people's safety, as some argue.

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"The tragic assault on Rep. Giffords in Tucson exposes the dangerous situation that now exists in America as a result of the highly charged anti-government rhetoric that drives political discourse today.

"The shooting spree was not an event, it was a wake-up call."

Irvine Mayor Pro Tem Beth Krom on Monday sent that e-mail.

Krom continued, "When we allow political pundits who rely on ignorance and disinformation to gain credibility by virtue of their overexposure in the media, we should not act surprised when their words incite hatred and aggression."

The politician draws a direct line from heated political discourse to the shooting spree. One might question if Krom herself has fallen into the pit that she warns others to avoid.

If so, Krom's in good company. And that is said with all sincerity.

Within hours after Saturday's rampage, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said, "I think people who are unbalanced are especially susceptible to vitriol ... That may be free speech, but it's not without consequences."

When I heard Dupnik on television, I nearly spit out my half-caf coffee. But I wasn't surprised.

I like Sheriff Dupnik. He's been sheriff in Pima County since before my parents moved to Tucson in 1982. (They moved to Laguna Woods in mid-September.) And Dupnik's always been outspoken.

When I interviewed the sheriff in May about Arizona's tough immigration law, he told me, "Eventually they're going to want to put swastikas on (my deputies') armbands."

I wouldn't go that far. Still, we agreed the immigration law was dumb and that it smacked of racial profiling.

But criticizing political decisions, however shrill, is a far cry from picking up a Glock, pointing it at a human being and pulling the trigger.

I would argue the gap between shrill discourse and homicidal lunacy is so wide there is no connection at all.

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Since the shootings, we've repeatedly heard that Arizona leads the country in angry and conservative politics.

Even if that were true – and relevant – one also could argue that Tucson leads Arizona in gentle and liberal politics.

In the 1980s, a number of Catholics and Presbyterians in Tucson spearheaded what some called the "sanctuary movement." Others called it a series of "safe houses" for illegal immigrants.

As recently as July 10, Tucson Bishop Gerald Kicanas called for the country's "11 million undocumented to pay a fine, pay back taxes, learn English." But the bishop also declared, "We cannot accept the toil and taxes of immigrants without providing them the protection of law."

By now, the entire country knows that Rep. Giffords is a Democrat, not exactly someone most would call "conservative."

What some political pundits, to borrow Beth Krom's term, seem to miss, is that the majority of people in Giffords' district voted for the Democrat. She was twice elected to the Arizona House of Representatives and three times to the U.S. Congress.

Like Dupnik, Giffords also is outspoken. She said Arizona's immigration law "stands in direct contradiction to our past and, as a result, threatens our future." The NRA gives her a D+ rating, even though Giffords reportedly is a longtime gun owner.

While there are trucks with gun racks in Tucson, the heart of the city is the University of Arizona. Giffords also has company. Her colleague, Rep. Raul M. Grijalva, is a Democrat as are five of the city's six council members.

While some argue that Jared Loughner was surrounded by conservative "vitriol," they might more successfully argue that the suspect was surrounded by liberal thought.

If political rhetoric was a factor in the shootings, the facts beg the question: Why didn't the shooter target the Tea Party?

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Some might respond by contending liberals don't use the level of vitriol that some say endangers lives.

But history argues otherwise. At the more extreme anti-Vietnam War rallies President Lyndon Johnson sometimes was accused of killing babies; President Richard Nixon on more than one occasion was likened to Hitler.

But – radical Weathermen aside – no one I knew proposed killing Johnson, Nixon or even Arizona's Sen. Barry Goldwater.

Reflecting on the tragedy several days after the killings, my mother offered that some angry and mentally unstable people lash out at whoever is visible.

By all appearances, Loughner was doing just that. He was known to babble incoherently and his reading list reportedly ranged from "Mein Kampf" to the "The Communist Manifesto."

Beth Krom also stated, "When irresponsible speech and the personal demonization of public officials leads to tragedy, the First Amendment is not a shield for accountability."

With some irony, Krom and I can agree on that statement.

Alice Whiting, who shopped hundreds of times at the Safeway where the rampage took place, suggested it's not people's lives that are in danger when political rhetoric goes too far.

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